


BJ's Christmas Letter

by samwise_baggins



Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: Gen, Sad, Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:15:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26148535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samwise_baggins/pseuds/samwise_baggins
Summary: A letter from home winds up on the bulletin board, and everyone is affected by it.
Relationships: B. J. Hunnicutt/Peg Hunnicutt
Kudos: 10





	1. The Missing Letter

**Author's Note:**

> **This is dedicated to all of our Servicemen and Women overseas at this time of celebration. I salute you; we love you.**  
> .  
> Setting: MASH 4077 Compound  
> .  
> Song Note: Christmas Without Daddy by Loretta Lynn. (Completed lyrics can be found on the internet)

Corporal _Radar_ Walter O'Reilly walked into the Swamp with a few packages and a handful of letters. Major Frank Burns looked up and sneered. Striding quickly across the otherwise unoccupied tent, he demanded, "Well, Corporal, where's my mail? Hand it over." His hand shot out importantly.

"Uh," Radar was stunned when the major pulled the post from his hands, "Hey!"

Frank ignored the indignant exclamation, busy sorting through the uncommonly small stack. "Pierce… Pierce… Hunnicut…" Frustrated, he tossed each letter in the general direction of his roommate's bunk.

"Hey!" Radar reached to take the remaining mail back.

Burns was too quick for him, holding them above his shorter reach and still tossing those he found bearing someone else's name. "Kellye… Straminsky… Klinger… Potter…" Annoyed, the Major slapped the pile against the younger man's chest, reaching for the packages.

Letting the letters fall in order to rescue the parcels from the not-so-tender mercies of the superior officer, Radar backed away and turned his body to block Frank's attempts. "There's nothing here for you, Major Burns, Sir. I already looked."

"Don't be ridiculous. It's only a week until Christmas. Of course there's something for me. Louise wouldn't forget me." He tried to grab again, knocking Radar in the face accidentally.

The Corporal's glasses flew off and landed on the neatly made bunk at the Major's side, but he still retained a firm grip on the packages in his arms. "Hey! That's assault, Sir!"

"Serves you right for withholding my mail, Corporal. You're going on report for this."

"There isn't any mail for you." Radar glared at the fuzzy image of Frank Burns.

Fortunately before the doctor could make another attempt or the clerk say something that would get him legitimately reported, the door screeched open.

"What's going on?"

Captain BJ Hunnicut took in the mess and the hostile atmosphere. "Are you picking on children again, Frank?"

"He won't give me my mail," came Frank's defensive whine.

BJ stepped in and started picking up the scattered letters, glancing through them, when he saw Frank's lunge from the corner of his eye. "Whoa!" Tossing the mail back onto Frank's cot next to Radar's glasses, the surgeon threw himself protectively in front of the Corporal. "Frank, give him a chance…"

"He doesn't have any, Sir. I already told him that." Radar stepped towards Hawkeye's bunk behind him.

Again, BJ blocked Frank. "Calm down, Frank." Both hands were firmly on the other surgeon's shoulders, holding him back. "If Radar says there's no mail, there's no mail. He wouldn't be hiding it."

Frank frowned petulantly. "Oh, fine. But it'll be here tomorrow. I'm expecting an important personal letter from my wife." With that he gave one more glare in Radar's direction then stormed from the tent. The door slammed behind him.  
Radar slumped, letting a whoosh of air out. "Boy, he's getting really nasty."

The taller man smiled and nodded, briefly checking Radar's bruised cheek. "Isn't he always?" He retrieved the glasses and handed them over, then gathered the mail and quickly glanced through, his face falling when he didn't see anything for himself. The doctor handed over the post.

With a frown, Radar skimmed through the mail and glanced up. "I was certain there was a letter for you, Sir."

Hope sparked in BJ's eyes. "Maybe it's still on the floor . . ."

After putting the packages and letters on Hawkeye's bunk, the pair started crawling around on the ground, looking for the missing letter. What neither knew was that it had landed outside the tent and had been trampled into the muddy snow.

Max Klinger was watching the ground, trying not to twist an ankle in the icy muck. He was truly reconsidering this particular outfit. Dressing as Mrs. Claus hadn't been totally a bad idea, but the open-toed high heels had been sheer insanity, which is why he'd done it in the first place.

In surprise, Klinger's attention was drawn from footwear to the more mysterious when he noticed a muddy envelope on the ground in front of the Swamp. He squatted down, mindful of the red velvet half-skirt with the faux-fur trim he was wearing. Plucking the messy envelope out of what was left of last night's snow, Klinger frowned to see that any identifying names were smudged beyond translation, as well as the city of origin. That would make it difficult to return the letter to the proper owner.

Shrugging one shoulder as he stood once more, the Corporal started walking, trying to puzzle out how he could figure out who had lost a letter. Then the solution hit, like a thunderclap from out of the dull gray above. He opened the letter to read the receiver's name.

What he read there made his heart want to break.

Finally having given up, temporarily, on finding the mysterious letter Radar claimed he'd gotten, BJ left the bunks and other furniture disarrayed and went off to find Burns. It was a distinct possibility that the Major had taken the letter. BJ felt it was best to confront him immediately, rather than later when he was in a more desperate mood.

The sight of so many people gathered around the Bulletin Board distracted the surgeon. He changed course for that direction. Curiosity was certainly not to be denied for once. It had to be something extremely important; Hawkeye's desperate pleas for a date never produced such a turn out. Luck was with him, as well; Frank was standing among the crowd.

Being tall, BJ Hunnicut could see over many a head. What he saw was a letter with a smudge for a receiver's name. The paper itself was stained with a great amount of wet, snowy mud, and it seemed the letter had been hung on the Board to dry. Still, due to that same curiosity, BJ decided to step a bit closer and read the letter before accosting Frank for his own.

As he moved closer, he noticed many a staff member in tears. What had happened? Was the letter actually bad news for the entire camp? Even more puzzling was the reaction he received. People respectfully parted, giving him clear access to the Board's contents. They squeezed his arm, patted his back, or murmured so softly that he couldn't understand them. What the…?

Standing in front of the dirty, wet letter, BJ tore his eyes from the oddly acting group. He was aware of Hawkeye slinking up next to him, but ignored his best friend in favor of finding out what all this was about. After all, the entire crowd was acting as if he needed some sort of support or comfort.

He read the letter:

_Darling (name smudged out),_

_Christmas day is getting closer, but there's sadness mixed with joy. Every day a few more questions from our precious little girl. Not alone, but she'll be lonely, for her Daddy won't be here, and, just like the air at Christmas, there'll be a chill upon the cheer._

_Christmas without Daddy will be such a lonesome day. We'll send a prayer and all our love to you so far away. Christmas without Daddy, I don't know what we're gonna do. On the present from your baby, she wrote "Daddy, I love you." Your girl just wrote to Santa asking him to send you home. This Christmas without Daddy will be blue and all alone._

_We love you. Stay safe._

_Peg & Erin_

BJ felt shell-shocked. An arm around his shoulders drew his eyes reluctantly from his now found letter. Hawkeye had tears in his eyes as he reached to retrieve the letter. A murmur of disappointment went through the crowd, stirring BJ to action. He placed a hand on his friend's arm. "No, leave it. I'll get it later."

Hawkeye turned a puzzle frown on BJ, but the doctor went on to explain. "I think Peg speaks for everyone's families this time. They all need to know how much they're loved and missed. Let them read it."

And with that, he turned back to his letter on the Bulletin Board, kissed his fingers, and touched them to his family's names. "I love you; stay safe."

BJ walked away.


	2. Let's Try This Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Note: It Won't Seem Like Christmas by Loretta Lynn. (Complete lyrics can be found on the internet)

B.J. Hunnicut lay on his bunk simply holding the unopened letter. He wasn't sure he could open this one. The last letter from Peg had been heart wrenching; this one was probably along the same lines.

His wife wasn't normally morose. This, however, was their second Christmas ever apart. They had always been honest with each other about their feelings, and his beautiful wife had taken that honesty into their correspondence. It was wonderful, refreshing, and bittersweet, though . . . especially right now.

The last letter had been opened by someone else and placed on the Bulletin Board. That wasn't an act of cruelty; all identifying marks had been missing and the opener thought it the best way to find the owner. After all, someone was bound to read it and recognize the writing or signature. And so BJ had.

With a sigh, the surgeon turned over on his Army-issue cot. He frowned, stroking a gentle finger across the letter. How he missed his wife and daughter. And he knew, beyond any doubt, that they missed him just as much. Every letter from home poured out that misery.

Maybe he just shouldn't read this letter at all. He could wait, bring it home with him, and read it with Peg. They could talk, kiss, make love. Things would be good. He could simply hold this letter and, instead of reading sad words, he could imagine the good times coming.

Sitting up, BJ caressed the letter again, imagining the scene back home. _Peg would have sat down to write, the huge kitchen neat and smelling of baked cookies. Little Erin, a sloppily wrapped package in one tiny hand would be tugging at her skirts, begging for attention. Peg would reach down, smiling sadly, and pull the little girl into her lap, stroking her hair and murmuring words of love. Then she'd pull a fresh sheet of paper over and write a letter from Erin, followed by finishing her own letter to him._

BJ smiled at the thought of his daughter, his wife. _Erin would want her letter to be separate, so Peg would oblige. After all, it's almost Christmas. Then she would mail them together, but as they traveled, the pair of envelopes would become separated even further until Erin's reached him one week before Christmas… and Peg's the next day._

Another caress for his wife's letter, his wife's name, and BJ stood slowly. He looked around his temporary home. The Swamp was decorated with colorful socks and other negligible items: an attempt by his best friend, Hawkeye, to liven the atmosphere a bit. He'd done it the day before, after reading Erin's letter. It had helped for a few minutes before Major Burns had come in and started insulting and whining about it.

The fight that had ensued had been more amusing than vicious, ending in Burns going to lick his mental wounds over at Major Houlihan's tent and Hawkeye losing himself in several homemade martinis. BJ had stayed with Hawkeye and gotten drunk as well.

With a sigh, BJ walked out of the door to the Swamp. He wound up dropping the letter, startled, when he actually absent-mindedly bumped into Major Frank Burns. Burns started yelling at him, naturally, but BJ ignored him, dropping down to retrieve his now muddy letter.

"And I can have you up on assault charges, Captain. Assaulting a superior officer . . . yes, that's what it is." The tirade continued in the same petulant, useless vein as BJ found his letter and started trying to clean the icy mud off with his shirttail.

Finally, the doctor looked up at the other surgeon. "Frank, you've got mail on your bunk. A package and some letters." BJ's voice was tired, but held forced politeness. Major Burns was always a major pain in the rear.  
"I do?" Frank pushed past BJ, causing him to drop the letter once more, and rushed in to see to his own post.

BJ glared after him, all politeness, feigned or otherwise, dropped completely. "Thanks, Frank." The sarcasm was heavy as he finally managed to find and once more start cleaning his completely soaked, battered letter from Peg. "Just great." Maybe he hadn't wanted to open another sad letter, but that didn't mean he didn't want to open it.

Standing, BJ headed for the Bulletin Board, almost without thinking.

When he realized where he was going, an idea struck him. Sure, it was kind of weird, but why not? The letter yesterday had been hung to dry while hopefully being identified. So, this one was already identified, but it did need drying. So… what if he hung it up, then read it? If it was really sad, he could always walk away and come back to it later to finish… just another face in the crowd of MASH 4077.

Without another thought, BJ tore open the soggy letter. Carefully sliding it from the envelope, making sure not to rip the delicate wet paper, he slowly unfolded it. A quick perusal revealed that this letter had fared better than yesterday's. It was completely intact, if very wet, with no smudges at all. He stopped himself from reading right away.

The surgeon wasn't particularly aware that a silent group of people had gathered nearby, watching intently. They had read his other letter, knew who it had belonged to, and were anxious to see what he'd do this time. The group, almost all nurses, definitely all friendly towards the doctor, rather hoped he would post it; natural curiosity about what his beloved family would write this time was rampant in the group.

When BJ had carefully tacked up his letter and stepped back a little, he was still unaware of the group. He was equally unaware that he had tears in his eyes as he quickly read his wife's words. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea; he still felt miserable, and now the entire camp would know it. BJ reached to take down the letter.

A hand stopped him. It was Nurse Baker. She smiled gently at him and shook her head. "Please don't, BJ. Let us share such a lovely letter."

"Lovely? It's sad and . . ."

"But it has such love and hope in it. She really loves you, Doctor," added one of the other nurses. The majority of them were single women, but every one of them recognized a good thing… and what BJ Hunnicut had was the best. Envy, admiration, and a bit of pleasure mixed to make them all just a bit more respectful of the man they worked with everyday.

Nurse Kellye summed it up best with her simple words. "We like to imagine we've got the same kind of love you do, Doctor."

With that, BJ couldn't argue. He merely turned back to his wife's letter and reread it, thinking of the newest perspective he'd been given on these sad, but oh so desired little letters.

_Darling BJ,_

_Everybody's busy decorating Christmas trees, and outside icicles hanging from the eaves, and the snowflakes are flying just as far as I can see... but it won't seem like Christmas to me._

_It won't seem like Christmas: you'll be there, and I'll be here. So I'll decorate a heartache with my tears. No, it won't seem like Christmas; what's Christmas without you? I'll be lonely but, My Darling, I'll be true.  
So have a merry, merry Christmas wherever you may be... Oh, but it won't seem like Christmas to me._

_Stay safe, my love._

_Peg_


	3. The Final Reply

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song Note: I'm Already There by Lonestar. (2004 in honor of the troops: Complete lyrics can be found on the internet)

B.J. couldn't decide what to do… how to respond. Two letters from home… full of bittersweet words of love. Christmas was fast approaching and BJ Hunnicut wanted so much to be with his wife and daughter. The war in Korea was forcing them apart, though.

Others had noticed his preoccupation, as well. Oh, he didn't let it interfere with his duties as a surgeon. The normally good-natured doctor, however, was less responsive to friendly overtures. He was morose and solitary… and his practical jokes had stopped since the second letter had come.

Finally, Hawkeye couldn't take it anymore. As best friend and fellow tent-mate, the other surgeon determined it was up to him to help BJ through this tough time. So far drinking and jokes hadn't worked, so Hawkeye was about to do the drastic thing… and he wasn't exactly looking forward to it.

As BJ came out of the mess tent, head down, hands in pockets, feet dragging, Hawkeye suddenly grabbed him from behind, spun him around, and tackled him into the fresh snow. The sky seemed to take its cue and opened up, even more bitterly cold snow sprinkling down on them.

BJ's muffled words sounded better left unheard as he struggled to get away from his friend. Finally, Hawkeye pulled him to his feet and forced him into the shower, dousing him in warm water while still ignoring the threats and protestations of the blond he held. The brunet was wary, his face grim, but finally he let go when BJ stilled. Neither moved for a long moment, the shower quickly steaming the cold tent.

Slowly, BJ turned a glare on Hawkeye, who was rather drenched due to his struggles.

"You realize I'm withdrawing my Hippocratic Oath now. As soon as I'm fully warm, I'm going to disembowel you."

Hawkeye nodded, suddenly grinning widely, a loud laugh escaping. "Good. At least your anger's better than that kicked puppy routine. Come on, Beej. Tell Uncle Hawk what's bugging you." He knew the problem, but had found that it was better to get a person talking for himself.

One long-fingered hand came up to pull the chain on the shower. "Haven't I shared enough? For two days I've had my personal mail posted on the Bulletin Board for everyone to read. Everyone in this entire camp knows what's wrong." BJ sighed, but was startled when he felt a warm towel dumped onto his head. Pierce had prepared the room before his stunt… it showed just how thoughtful the man was, underneath his sense of the ridiculous. Softly, BJ added, "I miss Peg and Erin."

"So, tell them that." Hawkeye handed over another towel. As he watched his friend try to sop up most of the water from his now heavy uniform, the doctor grinned and offered the bathrobe he'd also stashed in the shower tent. "Tell them exactly how you felt when reading their letters. Tell them what happened to them. You pride yourself on sharing the truth, right?"

BJ stopped and gave Hawkeye a considering look. Then, with a grin, he started unbuttoning his shirt. "Right."

The letter was written and sent. BJ was sunny once more. All seemed right with the world… well, except for the fact that they were stuck in Korea during a war and there was still fighting going on.

With a smile for the nurses chatting nearby, BJ headed for the Bulletin Board. He made a deliberate show of tacking up a piece of paper before turning his smile once more on the women nearby. Then, stepping out of the way, he waited to see the reaction to his message.

BJ Hunnicut had made a copy of his letter, minus anything really personal, for the rest of the camp. They saw the last two letters, and the words of the nurses had struck a note inside him. Might as well share the final letter in this little Christmas exchange, right? He hoped his letter home would meet with as much respect as the ones he'd received from his wife and daughter.

The true test was about to begin. Nurse Kellye broke away from the group and stepped forward, giving BJ a brief smile before turning her attention to the board. After reading the letter thoroughly, she wiped her face vigorously. The doctor stepped forward, but she waved him to her side and smiled a watery smile. Turning back to the letter, she began reading out loud, other people quickly gathering to hear the bittersweet words rendered in her musical voice.

_Darling Peg, Precious Erin,_

_I'm already there… take a look around. I'm the sunshine in your hair. I'm the shadow on the ground. I'm the whisper in the wind. I'm your imaginary friend, and I know I'm in your prayers. Oh, I'm already there._

_I really miss you darling; don't worry about our girl, she'll be all right. Wish I was in your arms lying right there beside you, but I know I'll be in your dreams tonight. And I'll gently kiss your lips, touch you with my fingertips, So turn out the light and close your eyes._

_I'm already there… don't make a sound. I'm the beat in your heart. I'm the moonlight shining down. I'm the whisper in the wind, and I'll be there until the end. Can you feel the love that we share? Oh, I'm already there._

_We may be a thousand miles apart, but I'll be with you wherever you are. I'm already there._

_Love forever and always,_

_Daddy BJ_

As he stepped back, B.J. realized that half a dozen other letters had also been posted to the bulletin board, and several people waited for a chance to share theirs.


End file.
